More information : [Name SK 97018645] Romano-British Settlement [G.S.] (Site of). (1)
Extensive Romano-British settlement straddling Ermine Street at
Fox Wood. The fact that the road is pushed slightly out of line
to the east suggests that there were substantial structures
here, the ruins of which blocked the road. Probably a posting
station and small village. Stones turned up by the plough
suggest foundations over an area of 100 yards. Finds include
pottery, coins, flue tiles, oyster shells.
From the area around the site has come: part of a possible
Roman milestone (6) (7) [SK 97168699]; coin of Nero. [SK
97268622]: a considerable scatter of 2nd/4th century pottery
[SK 96718656] found in 1960. In Lincoln Museum. Evidence of
crop marks at SK 97048628 (a) and SK 97048669 (b). (2-8)
The fields containing this site are all arable and some have
been deep ploughed leaving Roman building debris scattered
over a large area.
Recent finds include 5 Ro. coins, (1st - 4th c.) from SK 968864
at present in the possession of Mr. W. Carter of Fillingham.
Mrs. Harden, who has lived at Owmby Cliff all this century, said
the `Ro. milestone' was a garden roller erected vertically
and capped with a mill stone.
Lincoln Museum hold a large collection of material from this
site. (9)
Further finds from the Romano-British settlement at Owmby
include 1st-4th century coins, bronze brooches and a thimble,
and six intaglios in cornelian, nicolo, yellow glass and red
jasper. The intaglios are in private possession as are a
Dupondius of Hadrian and a 4th century AE coin found at
SK 972863. (10-12)
SK 969865 Owmby Roman settlement, scheduled. (13)
A possible Iron Age or Roman settlement was visible as cropmarks on
good quality air photographs on the site of the settlement known from
finds referred to by the previous authorities. The settlement is
centred at SK 9701 8645 and has been mapped at 1:2500 scale. The
Roman road does not bow out to the east as suggested by authority 2-8
but it is the modern road that diverges from the straight line of the
Roman road.
To the east of Ermine street a series of enclosures bow out eastwards
from the line of the modern and the Roman road. The northern and
southern ends of the line of enclosures each appear to be focused on
a more clearly defined enclosure. The enclosure at the northern end
measures 44m by 42m internally and is defined by a broad ditch with
an entrance to the west. This enclosure is centred at SK 9706 8660.
An extension to the eastern side of the enclosure measures 44m by
18m. To the south of the main enclosure are further enclosures
defined by narrower ditches. A possible trackway appears to run
through these enclosures and is centred at SK 9710 8653. Within the
enclosures were a number of pits which appeared to be of a different
nature to the background of pits caused by the underlying geology.
Such large pits are not uncommon on Iron Age sites, eg at J.May's
excavation at Castle Lime pit near Ancaster (14b). The substantial
enclosure at the southern end of the settlement measures 62m by 58m
and has an entrance with offset terminals on its south side; it has
an extension to the east, measuring 25m by 24m. The main enclosure
is centred at SK 9696 8624. A partition reduces this main enclosure
to 60m by 44m internally. Within this area are what appears to be a
cluster of pits. A reverse L shaped ditch adjoins the southern side
of the enclosure defining an area out in front of the entrance. What
could be a third and fourth side, to the north and west may indicate
a later enclosing of the space in front of the entrance to the main
enclosure. Within this enclosed area is a possible curvilinear
feature which might represent the remains of a hut circle. On the
western side of Ermine Street another enclosure measures 78m by 52m
and is centred at SK 9682 8620. This enclosure is more rectilinear
in nature to those recorded east of the road and has much finer
ditches. To the east of the road, to the south east of the main
enclosures, perpendicular double-ditched linear features apppear to
be on the same alignment and may be related. What the relationship
of these features to the main series of enclosures is not clear.
The settlement although made up of rectilinear enclosures is however
made up of slightly curvilinear elements with ditches of varying
width. This is in contrast to many other supposed Romano-British
type sites discovered from air photographs in Lincolnshire. On
morphological grounds the settlement could be classified as being
Iron Age. A considerable amount of Iron Age metalwork, coins and
pottery have been found on the site. The concentration of Iron Age
and Roman material found on the site appears to suggest this was when
the site flourished (14a). Jeffrey May considers it to be the site
of one of the major Iron Age sites in Lincolnshire and classifies it
as significantly situated near the source of a river, that of the
River Ancholme (14b). The site is also considered significant for
its position at a Roman road junction, that is the junction between
Ermine street (RR 2d, Linear 314) and the link road to the High
street at Claxby (RR 274, Linear 316) (14c). Whether the cropmarks
relate to Iron Age or Roman settlement or both is not clear simply
from air photographic evidence alone. The settlement could be
related to another enclosure and an odd forked linear feature visible
as cropmarks on the other side of Ermine street (SK 98 NE 41, 42).
(14) |